Picerno On Bernanke’s Speech

James Picerno has weighed in with two posts on Bernanke’s recent “Monetary Policy and the Housing Bubble” speech.  Here are some excerpts:

What’s troubling is arguing that the Fed played no role in stoking the fires of the former real estate bubble.  Policy is never going to be perfect, but the degree of error in 2002-2006 now looks extraordinary.  Yes, hindsight is 20-20, and so we should be careful here in arguing that another crew might have done things differently.  But if we can’t at least recognize an error, the odds of learning from past mistakes look virtually nil.

– James Picerno , “Passing (And Printing) The Buck”, The Capital Spectator, January 3

Also see his “Passing (And Printing) The Buck, Part II”, The Capital Spectator, January 5.

And see my “Top Gun FP Client Note: Bernanke’s Sophistry”, Top Gun FP, January 5.